Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Don't show me this message again

Oh, fair Cedaria, hide those eyes, Z402

Introduction

Oh, fair Cedaria is a masterpiece. It was not published until seven years after Purcell’s death, when it appeared in the 1702 second edition of Orpheus Britannicus. It is one of the most perfect of all Purcell’s songs. The opening is exquisite, with a ravishing melisma on ‘Oh’ leading to a series of sighing ‘hide those eyes’ and erotic settings of the word ‘dies’. ‘Such beauty and charms are seen’ is underpinned by a graceful, four-bar ground bass; the tantalizing melismas on ‘charms’ leave us in no doubt of Cedaria’s matchless ‘beauty, wit, and grace’. The last stanza is extraordinary, containing a series of increasingly desolate pleas to ‘pity me’, the last of which is worthy of Dido, as is the magically descending bass line of the last ‘Unless I may your favour have, I can’t one moment live’. Such a song leaves us in no doubt whatsoever as to why Purcell’s contemporaries held him in universal awe.

'An auspicious launch to a project that will probably have no real competiton for years to come; I recommend it heartily' (Fanfare, USA)'An exceptional recording with consummate singing and playing which is worthy of pride of place in any vocal collection' (CDReview)» More

'Hyperion and the Consort celebrate a decade together – fifty CDs – with an anthology of delights. Consistency of performance and of engineering is a ...'I must admit to being quite bowled over by this record. There is something especially infectious about Robert King's music-making [and] the recording ...» More